A Hockey Surprise
by CUtopia
Summary: The Ice Hockey team Slytherin Cobra's is meeting their biggest rival, the Gryffindor Lions, for the first time of the season - a surprise awaits him in the person of the Gryffindor's new goal keeper.


EPIC EXCHANGE: For TrueBeliever. Katie/Marcus.

Entry for **"Muggle Studies"** at **"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"**

 **Task:** _Write about a muggle sport._ Min 800 words.

Entry for the **"Sims 3 Progression Challenge"**

Athletic Skill Level 1: _Prompt:_ _(word set) Athlete, Lose, Mallet, League_

Entry for the **"Gringotts Prompt Bank"**

AU!Prompts: Athlete!AU

Various Prompts: Sex and the City: _S1E1_ _:_ 27\. "Most men are threatened by successful women."

* * *

There had never been a doubt that Marcus Flint would become a professional hockey player. At the age of 3, he had held a croquet mallet in his hands, showing incredible aim, and later that week, his father had taken him to the ice rink for the afternoon. On that day, he discovered that his son was better at skating on ice than he was in walking down the street.

His fate seemed to have been sealed on the day he had started to train in the Mini League, played as the star of his high school team, and then, got a college scholarship.

Everybody called him a remarkable athlete and a great team captain, and everybody respected him for the hard work he was investing into the team. There was no way he was going to let them lose a game without having at least given everything, and he would be standing in the front row, chasing for goals.

Today, the team of Slytherin Cobras were meeting their most fiercest rivaling team, the Gryffindor Lions, for the first time in this season. The Slytherins and the Gryffindors had been dominating the league for the last years, other teams had had up to no chance to make a shot against those two teams.

Everybody would be watching this game, as it usually would already determine which of the two teams was stronger this season and would be more likely to win over the other team in the finals.

There had been rumours about a new goal keeper that the Gryffindors themselves were calling "unbeatable", but Marcus would have not been a good captain if he had let himself be impressed by this statement. Firstly, these loudmouths would have to prove that they really had found the best goal keeper – and the Slytherins would make his job hell.

The two teams were met with loud applause and cheers as they left their cabins and entered the ice to greet each other.

Upon gliding towards the Gryffindor captain, Marcus immediately recognised that the goal keeper was standing next to Oliver Wood – the specially shaped helmet with the protection in front of the face and the leg protectors were unmistakeable. Marcus wondered about the immense height different between the goal keeper and the other players and that he had less broad shoulders, but he had seen smaller goal keepers before, so he was not bothered.

"So, Wood, this is your new secret weapon?" Marcus asked mockingly, sneering at Wood, who was his longtime rival – since their early high school days, they had been playing against each other, trying to be better than the other one.

"Yes, Marcus. Katie Bell, a new talent."

Marcus stared at Bell as he, no, she was lifting her helmet a little bit to reveal long, brown hair, a beautiful face with smooth skin, rosy lips and piercingly fierce hazel eyes.

After the first shock had faded, Marcus started to laugh, absolutely convinced that Wood was either playing a joke on him, or had gone insane.

"Wood, old fellow, you really don't have to ridicule yourself only because you want to loose so desperately against us," Marcus roared, and other team members of Slytherin were joining him as they saw that a girl was standing among the long line of Gryffindor players.

"I don't know what you mean, Flint. She passed our try-out tests without a problem, and was the best among all applicants," Wood answered stiffly, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"But she is a girl," Marcus grinned, wiping a tear out of the corner of his eye while trying to calm his breath down. "Hey missy, the figure skating training group is in the rink next door."

Katie gave him a false smile, showing a lot of self confidence as she said:"I am in the right rink, but thank you for your advice. Haven't you heard that it is not unusual for women to play as goal keepers on mens teams? Most men are threatened by successful women, but it is not my fault that you men are not able to bring it on."

Marcus rolled his eyes, still feeling like it was absolutely ridiculous to force him to play against a girl.

"We will see who will laugh in the end. Don't think I will play softer just because I am shooting at a girl standing in the goal," he grinned at Katie before turning towards the referees, who were starting the normal pre-game rituals, like greeting the refereeing team and the shake hands of the opposing captains.

Minutes later, the signal horn sounded, announcing the start of the first third of the game, and Marcus immediately possessed the puck, storming forwards into the Gryffindor's half of the rink. Katie Bell was not letting her eyes off him, observing every move of him and he felt like she was scanning him, analysing him... Those fierce hazel eyes...

He swung his stick and made his first shot towards the goal, in the same manner that had secured him a goal in nine out of ten shots, therefore he was already cheering as he saw the puck flying towards the goal.

A split second later, his face fell – Katie Bell was holding the puck in her gloved hand, having catched it seemingly with ease. The Gryffindor players and their fans cheered loudly while Marcus simply could not believe what had happened seconds ago. His signature move – ineffective? Surely this had been a coincidence...

But only a minute later, when he made his next try, Katie deflected his shot again, and he could see her grin under her helmet.

Anger was rising inside of him as he realised that the Gryffindors really had found a way to defeat him, and it made him desperate. But desperation caused him to make faults, and slowly, this behaviour was rubbing off on the rest of his team, making everything even easier for the Gryffindors.

By the last third, Gryffindor was 7:0 in the lead, and the Slytherins were crestfallen, just waiting for the game to end. The awaited signal was some kind of a relief, marking the end of the humiliation, and many of the men had to bite their tongues as they had to congratulate every single one of the Gryffindor players.

Marcus' teeth were gritting as he reached the end of the line and stood in front of Katie Bell. The young woman had taken off her helmet and was smiling rather friendly at him as he took her hand, a little bit of sweat shining on her face, her hair dishevelled. He had thought that she would look triumphant at him and mock him loudly for everyone to hear, but she surprised him once again.

As they shook hands, she leaned forwards, standing on the edge of her skates to reach his level, pressing a kiss to his cheek, whispering into his ear:"Oh, I could see that you were a virgin, therefore I tried to be gentle. I am looking forward to our next little dance."

She smiled smugly at him as he stared at her. He could not help but be fascinated – never had he met a woman that was such a good hockey player, while she also had a sharp tongue and was incredibly beautiful at the same time.

The spot she had kissed was tingling a little bit as he left the ice and walked towards the changing room and he could not help but look forward to the next time they would meet the Gryffindors – next time he would see Katie, he would be better prepared. And maybe, maybe he would be able to persuade her to have a drink with him...


End file.
